Germanwings crash: School authorities criticised for plane course maths problem

School authorities in Berlin have come under criticism for making students calculate a plane's course through mountainous terrain weeks after one of the country's worst air disasters.

Germanwings Flight 9525 smashed into a mountainside in southeastern France on March 24, killing all 150 people aboard - including 16 school students. Prosecutors say the 27-year-old co-pilot deliberately caused the crash.

Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported Wednesday that students taking their final math exam last week had to plot a fictitious plane's flight path, avoiding a peak, and discuss whether a change in course was necessary to avoid a helicopter.

The paper quoted math teacher Hans Juergen Kleist calling the question "embarrassing."

Berlin's education department said in a statement that its top official, Sandra Scheeres, agreed there had been a "lack of sensitivity."